I wonder if anyone can help me because at the moment I have no idea where to start looking, so maybe here is a good place !
I have recently discovered proof to a story that my grandma has been telling me all my life ! that my great great grandma was the Marchese of StAgata, born in Naples in 1823, daughter of Prince Ruffano.Her name was Louisa B. Conolly (Luisa B. ??? in Italy perhaps ) after her marriage to Charles Thomas Conolly a prominent Irish businessman when they moved to England and lived at Midford Castle near Bath. Can anyone shed any light on who she was, who Prince Ruffano was, what was her family name etc. Apparently my grandma actually knew her but she is dead now and I have only recently got the urge to research this project. Hope someone can help me.

Thanks
Marc Swinburne ( England

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> [... snip ...] my great great grandma was the Marchese of StAgata, born in Naples in 1823, daughter of Prince Ruffano.Her name was Louisa B. Conolly (Luisa B. ??? in Italy perhaps ) after her marriage to Charles Thomas Conolly a prominent Irish businessman when they moved to England and lived at Midford Castle near Bath. Can anyone shed any light on who she was, who Prince Ruffano was, what was her family name etc. [... snip ...]

I checked my copy of the *Almanach de Gotha* (1886 edition) and found on p. 346 a family by the surname of Brancaccio, who held the title of "prince de Ruffano" ("principe di Ruffano", in Italian). The head of the house at this time was Don Gérard Brancaccio, prince de Ruffano (b. 1837), who succeeded his father prince Nicolas. (The AdeG was a French-language publication, by the way.)

I then searched two British publications. In *Burke's Landed Gentry* (1855 edition) on p. 233 under the entry "Conolly of Midford Castle", I found a Charles John Thomas Conolly, b. 1818, who m. 1840 Louisa Margaret Catherine Brancaccio, daughter of Prince Ruffano, chamberlain to Ferdinando II, King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. (King Ferdinando reigned from 1830-1859.)

In *Burke's Peerage* (1865 edition) on p. 1237 of the section called "Foreign Titles of Nobility Conferred on British Subjects", I found the title St. Agata. According to this entry, Louisa Lucy Margaret Catherine Brancaccio Conolly was conferred the Neapolitan title of Marchesa (Marchese is the masculine form, by the way) on 5 June 1857 by King Ferdinando II (see above). Charles was the only son and heir of Charles Thomas Conolly (note the slight difference in his and in his son's Christian names) by his first wife Elizabeth Clifton. For her part, Louisa was the child of Nicola Maria Brancaccio, Marchese di Rivello, Principe de Ruffano by his wife Margarita, daughter of Gulielmo, Baron Dotto de Dauli. (Note that neither of these Burke sources show a child or children for Louisa and Charles.)

A search of *The Times* newspaper digital archive provided Louisa's brief obituary in the January 27, 1899 (p. 1, col. A) issue of *The Times*. It states: "On the 26th inst., at her residence, Midford Castle, near Bath, Louisa Brancaccio, Marchesa di Santa Agata, widow of the late Charles John Thomas Conally, Esqre [esquire]."

I hope that this information has been of some help.

Wow,
Thanks Yvonne, that was brill and all so fast aswell. I have been hunting for weeks and found very little. You quite correctly pointed out that Louisa and Mr Conolly had no children, but after his death she became very friendly with her butler a Mr Nash to whom she had four children, they took the Name of Nash hence my great grandad Francis J. Nash and my grandma the one who has recently died, Joan Nash.
Anyway, thank you so much again for your help.
Marc

There is an article in " Catholic Ancestor (CFHS), June 1998 (2) p61-4 on the Conollys of Midford Castle.I was interested in an italian servant called Marianna Sassi at Midford Castle in the 1851 census, from Italy; I have Sassi ancestors from Wigan from 1840 onwards.

post script to my message,Marc says that Louisa had 4 children with her butler Mr Nash after Charles Conolly (Chas.Jn.Thos) died in 1871. She would have been 48 by then.The 1881 census shows her living singly with a plethora of servants inclding Wm Nash, (c42),Amelia M Nash (c26) and Jn.M Nash aged 1. In the 1861 census,she is at 1 Manilla Cres. Weston-super-Mare with Jane Conolly (50) her "step mother",widowed

post script to my message,Marc says that Louisa had 4 children with her butler Mr Nash after Charles Conolly (Chas.Jn.Thos) died in 1871. She would have been 48 by then.The 1881 census shows her living singly with a plethora of servants inclding Wm Nash, (c42),Amelia M Nash (c26) and Jn.M Nash aged 1. In the 1861 census,she is at 1 Manilla Cres. Weston-super-Mare with Jane Conolly (50) her "step mother",widowed

Wow Thanks Felix,
You seem to be much better at this than me !! HeHe, at first I was determined not to stop until I had ascended the Italian throne !!!!! but soon realized its a bit hard to research
I have been trying for ages to legally connect the Nash's with the Marchesa but everywhere I turned I was told she had no children. I knew in my heart of hearts that she did have a relationship with my great grandad Mr Nash cos my grandma obviously knew this.The Weston-Super-Mare connection is very very interesting as my Grandma always used to talk to me of her fondness for this place and indeed she used to go on hols there although I never understood why and now I know. I phoned my dad this morning and her is going to ask his sister to try to fill in some gaps on this subject. Apparently Mr Nash was given a house-maybe a gatehouse or similar upon The Marchesa's death, which according to Yvonne was at Midford Castle and not Weston-Super-Mare. Did she have 2 houses ?? of the four sons, I don't know much except one was a cripple but a very accomplished painter, we have a photo of him in a wheelchair type thing with Mr Nash senior. We also have a beautiful painting of some fruit. Felix, I would love to talk some more to you. My e-mail is info@ribchestercatering.co.uk, I live near Preston.
Speak soon, Marc

As stated above, my last name is Dotto De Dauli. I live in Florida, however my family lives in Ragusa Sicily originally from Padova.

My last name is Dotto, I've been looking everywhere for proof that any of the claims (such as the claim of nobility) in our family's geneology are true.

My husband relatives worked and lived at Midford castle in the 1900's It was joseph swinburne and his family I am trying to found anything I can about them and the family they worked for.